Understanding Bicycle Markings in Minneapolis: A guide for motorists and bicyclists
Anyone besides me think this is far too complicated?
[Complications will cause more violations (and less safety) compared with a simpler system.]
Hypothesis: to increase safety, anything that is optional or advisory ought to be eliminated.
Bikes are either allowed (in which case they should be respected) or prohibited (like freeways, in which case they should be ticketed).
Cars are either allowed (in which case they should be respected) or prohibited (like exclusive bike lanes, in which case they should be ticketed). Transitions from prohibited to allowed and allowed to prohibited should be clearly marked.
4 types of lanes:
| Cars allowed | Cars prohibited | |
|---|---|---|
| Bikes allowed | Shared lane [standard] |
Exclusive bike lane [marked or signed as such] |
| Bikes prohibited | Exclusive motorized lane | Not a road |
From what I can tell there are at least 5 shared lane markings: Green bike lanes, Advisory bike lanes, Sharrows, Bike Blvd, and Green shared lanes. There are at least 3 exclusive lane markings: Bike lanes, Cycle track, buffered bike lanes. This should be reduced to one exclusive marking (a bicycle symbol [maybe on a green pavement] with solid white lines). Buffers (no car) areas are standard markings that have no special meaning here. Some transitionary marking indicating the beginning and end of an exclusive bike lane can be used.
Given recent severe crashes, I'd say eliminating markings will not make things safer. In a perfect world where drivers always expected and anticipated all legal modes might be using the road, perhaps so, but we don't live in a perfect world.
Some recent evidence (see page 5) shows that the presence of bikers is correlated with reduced crashes. As drivers see more bikes, they start to anticipate there will be bikes and drive accordingly (more cautiously).
The use of advisory markers, like green lanes, could be thought of as a substitute for actual bikers. The more drivers see these markings, the more they may come to expect bikers and drive accordingly. I think the jury is still out, but I think that is one of the potential purposes.
The point of these markings isn't so much actual safety (although the hope is that they don't make things worse), but perceived safety (comfort). This improved comfort is supposed to encourage more people to ride bikes rather than drive cars.